Unleashed Greed
by Soul Rider
Summary: People are two things inside: an officer and a criminal. The officer (good) keeps the criminal (bad) locked up. It applies to all good guys, even the Cooper Gang. However, a cursed stone that changes any good guy into a bad guy threatens their teamwork, especially when Sly is turned into the vessel of his ancestors' greed. Can his friends and a certain fox save him from this curse?
1. The Devil's Stone

**Soul Rider: Standard disclaimer of having no possession of the series, blah, blah, blah.**

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**Unleashed Greed**

**Part 1: The Devil's Stone**

*Beijing, China 10:24 pm*

Bentley stares at his green computer screen, watching the Cooper icon move through a crowded maze by itself. A certain spot on the maze has a red dot, pinpointing the target. The raccoon icon moves closer to the red dot at a steady, but somewhat slow pace.

"Is Sly there yet, Bentley?" Murray asks from the front of the van. The green turtle looks at his childhood friend, whose back is facing him.

"Not yet, Murray," he answers with his stuffy voice. He looks back at the screen for a few seconds and then to Murray. The symbol is much closer to the target now. "But he's getting close."

"Hey, Bentley, what's so big about the target anyway? I mean, it's just a diamond necklace, right?"

"Not exactly, Murray. It _is_ a necklace, but the diamond it has is called the 'Devil's Stone'. It is said that the necklace was created in Ancient Egypt by seven evil pharaohs. The necklace was then stolen and sold to the king of medieval England. Over the years, the stone was sold time and time again. However, there was a catch to it. Whoever has possession of it have their inner darkness awaken and they become evil. Its last holder, a kind nobleman, became a wrathful assassin and killed anyone in his way. Luckily, he was captured and executed for his crimes. Now, it's at the Beijing Museum of Magic, people hoping that no one becomes influenced by it." Murray looks at him with interest.

"Wow. That is intense voodoo."

"Actually, it's a curse left by the pharaohs. It was their most prized possession because they made it with their own hands. It is said that they were called, 'The Seven Pharaohs of Sin'. They were cruel to their people and said to have died because of their evil ways. When the king of medieval England received the diamond, he began treating his people with the same disrespect and died young, as well." The hippo's expression changes to show that he is creeped out.

"That stone is CREEPY! Why on Earth is Sly stealing THAT?"

"It was the first thing the Cooper clan ever stole. Slytunkhamen Cooper II was the thief. He, according to Sly, wanted the pharaohs to feel how their people felt and so stole their prized necklace. That's what started the Cooper code: "Only steal from those who don't deserve it." Also, it turns out that each of the greatest of the Coopers stole the Devil's Stone, as well, though none of them knew that until Otto Van Cooper realized it."

"So, it's like a tradition for the Cooper line to steal this diamond?"

"Exactly."

"Hey, Bentley," Sly's voice says in a whisper from the mic, "I found it." A bit surprised, Bentley looks at the screen and sees the Cooper icon flashing red.

'_Well, that was fast,'_ he thinks. "Good job, Sly," he says into his own mic. "Grab the stone and meet us at the rendezvous near the museum."

"All right." The mic turns off.

*Meanwhile, in the Beijing Museum of Magic*

"Grab the stone and meet us at the rendezvous near the museum."

"All right." Sly turns off his earpiece. Before him the Devil's Stone in a glass case on a white pillow. It is made with rose gold. In some spots are teeth-shaped gold. Its attraction was the white diamond for the back of an Egyptian beetle.

"Time to keep up the Cooper tradition." He takes out a small glass cutter from his leg pouch and cuts a hole in the thin glass. It falls into Cooper's open hand. Putting the glass gently on the floor and the glass cutter in his pocket, Sly grabs the necklace. He stares into the diamond's depths in admiration. Then, the diamond mysteriously begins to turn black, much to Sly's shock. Sly immediately puts the necklace in his backpack and places his signature calling card in the empty case.

"_**Black and White,"**_ a dark, echoing voice murmurs. Startled, the raccoon looks around the room, but no one is there. _**"The Black and White Thief. We meet anew."**_ Sly now recalls that is said that the holders of the Devil's Stone always heard these voices of their 'consciences' speaking to them. The master thief relaxes and gives off an unimpressed look, even though there is no one to see it.

"Nice try, 'conscience', but I'm not doing anything you say," he says calmly.

"_**Don't you want to steal many varieties of items?"**_ the voice asks temptingly.

"Coopers only steal from other thieves and plain criminals. I only came here tonight for the stone because it's a threat here. Don't need anything else."

"_**Oh, you sure? Because I know that deep within you is a thief that will steal anything. You're just itching to grab more gold and jewels without thought. Come on; let your inner thief finally leave his prison cell."**_

'_This voice is really trying now,'_ he thinks. Sly gives a 'hmpf' of annoyance. "Three words. No. Thank. You." The raccoon then bolts down the hall, heading back to where he entered. He passes by the same priceless antique wands with gemstones and gem dazzled spell books in Chinese. He avoids any direct contact with the displays, predicting that the evil voice will try to tempt him into stealing unnecessary items.

The master thief finds his escape hole: an air vent. Why air vents is always the escape hole is anyone's-even Sly and Bentley's-guess. However, as Sly crawls through the somewhat narrow space, a shadow-made hand slowly creeps out of his bag. Reaching the outside, the raccoon jumps the bottom story and lands perfectly on his feet. The shadow has already made some kind of key out of shadow.

Before Sly can start running to the van, the hand stabs the key into his chest and pierces his heart. The master thief's pupils and irises shrink and his body is paralyzed. Next, he feels pain, as if something was destroying him on the inside. Looking down, he sees the shadow hand and its key as it's turning it to unlock something. _'Oh God, no,'_ he thought. He begins to head sweat from dear. _'No! Please stop! Bentley! Murray! Help me!'_ Then, there is a 'click' and Cooper's vision goes white. His irises are glazed pitch black. The key is then removed and the hand vanishes. The sinister voice chuckles evilly.

"_**Oh, how we've waited for this moment,"**_ it says. _**"When a Cooper is finally tossed into the cell to replace the true thief that only cares about wealth. At long last, the greedy opportunity the Coopers locked away for generations has been released. **__**Greed**__** is now free."**_

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**Soul Rider: *whistle in exasperation* I **_**did it**_**. No flames please or anything like that please.**


	2. The Prison in a Thief

**Soul Rider: First chapter's up. Gotta make the next one. Disclaimer for the series, again.**

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**Part 2: The Prison in a Thief**

*Cooper Van, 10:30 pm*

"Come on, Sly," Bentley mutters to himself as he stares at his computer screen with a still Cooper icon. "It's no use waiting for Inspector Fox. We've got to leave."

"Sorry for the six minute wait, guys," a brown-eyed Sly says as he gets in the front seat next to Murray. Both his friends yelp in surprise and look at him with wide, shocked eyes. The turtle in the back looks back at his computer and the icon is still in the same place.

"But, how are you…?"

"Guess the tracker fell off while making my exit. But I got it." Digging into his brown backpack, he pulls out the Devil's Stone, the diamond white. Murray and Bentley stare in awe.

"Wow," Murray compliments. "For cursed jewelry, it sure is pretty. I can see why this was always a target for Coopers." Sly smiles at the hippo.

"If you don't mind, Sly, I'd like to look at that," Bentley requests. The raccoon shrugs and hands "the brains" the necklace, but a tick mark appears, hidden under his hat. Bentley places the Devil's Stone under a scanner. Instantly, there is beeping. Sly looks out the window on his side of the van. His smile changes into an unpleased frown and his irises become black again as he glares at the moon.

*an unknown place*

_It's cold. Lights are so dim; I can barely see detail in anything. Guess that means I'm the main light because my body is glowing. It's how I woke up, lying on the cold concrete of a rusted cage with a glowing body. Strange thing is that everything around me is a gold wall. Ha, wall. More like a barrier of gold with a cage in the center. There is no gate to the outside. Was I captured? Yes, but not by the cops. No. The cops are not as bad as who I know it is. This is way worse than going to an Interpol station._

_The yard in the space looks terrible. Barren trees dot the dead grass. The flower bed against the area of wall in front of me has wilted poppies and what seem to be shriveled black-eyed daisies._

_An evil chuckle from behind reaches my ears. My body doesn't feel like moving. A figure walks in front of me and stops. His fur is black and he wears a black Egyptian kilt. His feet have old-style sandals, dark grey. My eyes move up to see the guy's face and I'm not surprised to see who it is. I feel myself smirk._

"_Well, hi, Slytunkhamen Cooper II," I say coldly. The face of my greatest ancestor is staring down at me with possibly the same smirk I have. His Egyptian headgear has too shades of the darkest purples I've ever seen. Even his mask is purple and his eyes are a cold yellow. He is like a pure shadow._

"_**Please, cop, call me something more appropriate,"**__ he answers in a dark voice. I chuckle emotionlessly at him calling me "cop" and at his suggestion. I look away for a moment._

"_How about 'Shady' or 'Black Tut', then?" When I look back, I am shocked, but I hide that. Instead of Slytunkhamen II, I see Henriette "One-Eye" Cooper, my pirate ancestor. She was glaring at me, but has that same smirk on her face, too. The color scheme is also the same: black fur and clothes, grey shoes, a yellow eye, and dark purple eye patch to top it all off. She crosses her arms and puts her face closer to the cage._

"_**I'd prefer it if you call me "Greed", you runt of light,"**__ she says sinisterly._

"_Okay, "Greed". I have a suggestion: stick to one Cooper, all right?" "Greed" unfolds her arms and reaches into the cage. The "seadog" pulls my hat over my eyes so suddenly, I yelp in surprise. She holds it down by putting her on my forehead._

"_**I can't do that, cop. You see, I am ALL the Coopers."**__ She removes her hand and I immediately pull my hat back up. However, I am frightened by the new face outside the cage. MY face. Only "I" have black fur, a black shirt and gloves with silver-colored trim instead of yellow, deepest grey boots I've seen yet, a navy blue pouch on "my" RIGHT leg, a silver version of my belt, a steel grey mask around very sinister yellow eyes, and topped with a navy blue hat. __**"And that includes YOU, puny excuse for a thief." **__"My" voice is a bit scratchy and so evil-sounding._

"… _Liar." I feel myself growl under my breath and glare at the shadow. "I" get closer to the cage with an evil expression on "my" face._

"_**So naïve. Unlike the rest of your family. Do you not realize what I am?"**_

"_I realized that you're a shape-shifting shadow trying to get to my head." All "I" do is chuckle with great malice._

"_**I'm much more than a shadow. I'm the gathered sin of every Cooper that ever existed." **__Okay. I did not expect that. __**"It's basically a curse that's been passed down through the generations, starting with our Egyptian ancestor. The sins of each Cooper are passed down to the next generation until all that sin gets a key and that one unfortunate Cooper cop will be the one in "The Prison". And that unfortunate Cooper is **_**you**_**."**__ I now just want to rip this guy apart. I sit up, but then I notice that my hands are bound to the floor of "The Prison" by steel cuffs connected by some magnetic string of energy. Pulling up my hand, I am only able to move it by a few inches. Looking at my feet behind me, they too are cuffed. __**"Now you know what it's like to be the TRUE criminal, cop." **__I look back at "Greed". I just growl and glare with rage._

"_You're not going to get away with this!" I yell._

"_**HA!"**__ It then pulls out a gold key and spins the round handle on its finger. __**"I believe I already have. Thanks to the spare key."**__ I can tell he meant the Devil's Stone. It catches the key. I then hear the most evil laugh I have ever heard._

*Cooper Van*

"Hey, Sly, thinking about Inspector Fox?" Murray asks teasingly. _Sly_'s eyes turn brown again and he looks at his friend.

"Uh, pretty much, yea," the raccoon lies. "She didn't show up for some reason. She usually shows up as soon as I escape. What could've made her absent?"

"I say you were lucky," Bentley says from the back of the van. "We didn't have time to wait around." _Sly_ peers in the back to look at his friend.

"Don't you usually say that?" he asks playfully.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's head to our Beijing Safe House to plan our next heist."

"Great!" Murray exclaims. "I am SO ready to get some food into my stomach! I'm starving!" With that said, the hippo revs up the engine and the gang is off. However, neither Bentley or Murray notice _Sly_ smiling with evil written on his lips.

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**Soul Rider: I just noticed how well I add a little horror to things. Please leave a review.**


	3. The Inspector Finds Out

**Soul Rider: Now, let's continue.**

**Part 3: The Inspector Finds Out**

*Beijing Interpol Station, 10:32 pm*

Inspector Fox doesn't like that she couldn't go on patrol of the Beijing Museum of Magic's new artifact, the Devil's Stone. According to her boss, Inspector Barkley, the necklace will turn her them into a criminal if she stays in its presence too long. She doesn't believe it however and thinks instead that he is not trusting her and so lies. And now that Cooper got away with it 8 minutes ago, Carmelita is frustrated and growls as she sits in her assigned office.

"Those idiots," she says under her breath. "If I'm not around, Cooper gets away without ANY effort."

"Um, Inspector," a blue cat murmurs as he walks in, "You know you can leave for your apartment now. Your flight to Monaco headquarters is tomorrow near 6 in the morning so you should get as much sleep as you can."

"How can I sleep when Cooper is still on the loose? I know he's still in Beijing, and I'm going to lock him up the moment I see him."

"He probably hit the hay after that heist. And I suggest that you do, too." The cat exits the office. The fox groans to herself as she pulls on her Interpol jacket. Grabbing the file on Sly Cooper, she departs from her office and the station itself.

*next morning at Beijing Airport, 5:45 am*

Carmelita waits in her seat impatiently for her flight. She had arrived a few minutes ago and already went through the passenger checking procedure. For police, anyway. For a moment, the vixen spots a familiar striped tail. She decides that it is just her imagination and picks up Cooper's file from her Interpol bag.

Flipping through the many papers in the file, she finds one that she never did see in her previous inspections. It is an article about the Devil's Stone. According to the article, it has been the most common target for Coopers for so long that it became a tradition in the clan. The Inspector certainly didn't expect _that_. It adds, however, that the member must then immediately hide it from the world the best they can because even they are not resistant to the dark powers the jewel possesses. Plus, it's best that it's not in ANYONE's possession. However, it keeps being "rediscovered" and so the tradition goes on.

"My boss WASN'T lying…" she murmurs to herself. "This stone really IS the devil. And if Cooper still has it…" She pauses for thought. "… No, he was supposed to hide it as soon as he stole it. Still, there's that possibility…"

"LISTEN HERE, 'GUARD'!" a deep familiar voice roars. Carmelita shoots her head up from the article to see a group of three men in kimonos and a freaked out Bengal tiger guard. The one yelling is a big pink hippo with a red and yellow wrestling mask in a red and yellow kimono to match. He seems very agitated with the guard. A green turtle in a wheelchair watches with some agitation while wearing a sea green and cerulean kimono. Next to them is a pretty skinny, grey raccoon in a black turtleneck under a light blue kimono with a white sash, his tail poking out from the bottom. Unlike his two companions, he just looks impatient and annoyed with his arms crossed.

"EITHER YOU LET MY BABY ON THE PLANE OR I'LL GOING TO SUE THE WHOLE AIRPORT BECAUSE WE PAID THE FEE!" the hippo roars again. This time seems louder and everyone nearby, including Inspector Fox, had to cover their ears. The frightened guard frantically nods his head and gives an order into his walkie-talkie to let the hippo's "baby", which is his van, onto the plane. The hippo calms down and gives a pleased smile. "Thank you," he says normally and the three take seats (well, two in this case) in front of Carmelita. While the hippo pulls out a lunchbox, the turtle gets out a digital computer from nowhere and the raccoon takes out a map and unfolds it. He places it on his lap. His two friends don't seem to notice that he's evilly smirking, but Carmelita does.

'_What's he up to?'_ she thinks. The raccoon then reached into his kimono and pulls out a gold necklace with a big diamond that was secretly around his neck. It looks like the back of an Egyptian beetle. He stares at it with the same look. Then, something clicks in her mind. Glancing back at the picture of the Devil's Stone in the article, she looks back at the raccoon's necklace. They're the same. That raccoon has the Devil's Stone. And that raccoon is Sly Cooper. And the hippo and turtle are his gang.

Carmelita is about to get up and arrest them when she notices something. Sly has never smirked with such evil intent. NEVER. And his eyes… they aren't that cocky chocolate brown, but are jet black. Plus, his visible fur seems to be getting darker by the minute. How are his friends not noticing any of this? Just looking at Sly now is starting to freak Carmelita out. Her eyes fall on the diamond. That is the cause. Because Cooper still has it!

'_Cooper still has that stone of the devil,'_ she thinks. _'This is certainly not good. No. HORRENDOUS! A cursed gem THAT makes anyone pure evil in the hands of a MASTER thief! Who knows what kind of theft havoc he'll cause!'_

"Flight A7 to Monaco, all passengers waiting to board, please board immediately," says the announcer. It breaks the vixen's thoughts as the Cooper Gang get up from their seats and go to board the plane. Carmelita watches Sly in particular with eyes of, surprisingly, angst and worry. Her expression then changes to firm and determined.

'_I better keep an eye on Ringtail during this flight,'_ she mentally tells herself. Putting the file back in her bag, the Inspector goes to board the plane.

**Soul Rider: Now only Carmelita knows what's wrong with Sly. Wonder where this take us…?**


End file.
